


The Strength of Envy

by straightforwardly



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dragons, Gen, Nonnies Made Me Do It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2020-10-04 01:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20462657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straightforwardly/pseuds/straightforwardly
Summary: Sakura faces a water dragon—and herself.





	The Strength of Envy

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for and posted in FFA's 100 words of envying monsters thread.

The mission had gone wrong. Of course it had. Sakura used to sometimes think that Team Seven couldn’t go two steps without stumbling into some sort of disaster, and though Team Seven technically didn’t exist anymore, it was starting to look like she was carrying on the tradition for them.

The creature rose out from the ocean, water sluicing down its scales as it towered higher than anything she had ever seen. It rose and rose, until it blocked out the sun. The smallest of its fangs were the size of her head; each time it swayed, waves went crashing against the cliffsides and flooding the shore.

Sakura had: four kunai, three coils of wire, twelve explosive tags, excellent chakra control, a year of being shuffled to the side as her teacher focused on her teammates instead of her, six months of training under a woman who actually cared but also had to run a ninja village at the same time, two unconscious teammates, and a horde of civilians currently fleeing behind her.

She wasn’t stupid. She could do the math, and she knew that her chances of even surviving—let alone winning—were low. The only surprise was how hard that knowledge stung. She’d trained so much since her team fell apart. She’d trained _hard_, pushing herself beyond her limits every day, but even so, even with all that effort, she was still nothing to this dragon. She was still weak.

The dragon faced her with nothing more than it had been born with, and as she stared up towards its unconcerned gaze, standing alone in the path of its might, Sakura felt not fear, but the bitterest of envy.


End file.
